Ensoniq ESQ-1

I bought this off of eBay broken. Thought it would be a fun project. I still do, but it turns out it is more broken than I thought it was. It only plays the stock piano sound and the screen is messed up:



The ESQ-1 is a rad synth. It has digital oscillators and analog filters, three LFOs, a cool envelope generator, and a built in 8 track sequencer. You can actually program this thing to sound like a techno-type drum kit. It's sick. I just need to get it to work. I have a feeling, at the very least, I will have to get the EPROMs (the thing that stores the OS) reprogramed.

I tried a hard reset, grounding the battery (to reset the RAM), checking the voltages form the power supply,  and checking to make sure all the chips are properly seated. I need to go over everything and clean off any corrosion. If it still doesn't work I think I will have to send the EPROMS away to get re-programmed.

Since I took it apart, here are some pictures:









I'll probably get around to some more trouble shooting over the weekend.

Um...hi!

New post coming soon (Sundayish) about a new old broken synth. Until then:

Happy Pi Day!

Woo!

Lights!

On Monday I saw Muse live. It was awesome. Matt's piano, which is actually a digital piano in a piano housing, has really cool lights. Every time he plays a key it lights up a light. It is a really cool effect:



As soon as I saw that I needed to figure out how to build one. Its a good thing the internet exists. After some research, I think I figured out how to do this. Its actually much easier (in theory) than I thought.

Enter the MIDI 16-Way Light Controller. It does exactly what I need it to. Takes the MIDI input and outputs a small voltage. It can output up to 16 channels. They also include a schematic for wiring multiple LEDs to the circuit:

If you have a 61 key keyboard (like I do) you will need 4 controllers, not to mention the 61 transistors and 200+ LEDs. I think it will be worth it though.

I'll keep you updated if I decide to build this.